And Alan Simpson, co-chairman with Bowles of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, added that the “hogwash” he’s been hearing from “both parties … is not going to fool …the American people and it’s not going to fool the markets.”

Bowles was sharp in calling for Congress and the Obama Administration to avoid the “chaos” of the fiscal cliff by getting something done. He pointed out that there are just 10 legislative days remaining in the lame-duck session, and expressed the hope that Congress would stay in session longer if needed to get a deal.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” he said, warning that failure to reach a deal could slow economic growth by 3 to 5 percent, pushing the country back into recession; eliminate two million jobs; and cause the stock market to crash.

He said he met earlier this week with President Obama and business leaders, and he came away feeling that the President was “serious about attacking the deficit … serious about raising taxes on higher-income taxpayers … and serious about reducing spending.”

Simpson decried Congress’ lack of ability to compromise. “In my 18 years in the Senate all we did was compromise,” he said. “Everything in the country that has been solved is a compromise. If you can’t compromise you should never be in a legislative body and you should never marry.”

Simpson, a Republican former senator from Wyoming, and Bowles, a North Carolina Democrat who was chief of staff under President Clinton, spoke Wednesday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. They have been tireless warriors for a compromise solution to America’s debt crisis in the two years since President Obama created the commission in 2010.

Although their compromise plan failed to get the committee votes necessary for implementation, many are now saying Congress will ultimately adopt a similar solution. But the timing of an agreement is crucial with the spending cuts and tax-cut expirations known as the “fiscal cliff” set to happen Jan .1.

Bowles said the bleak outlook he sees is all the more frustrating because this is a “magic moment,” with “a second-term Democratic president willing to put entitlements on the table and a Speaker willing to put revenue on the table.”

Simpson roundly criticized interest groups and both political parties for putting their agendas in front of the good of the country. “Some members of my party are as rigid as fireplace pokers without the occasional warmth,” he said. “As long as we’re in the thrall of (tax-reduction lobbyist) Grover Norquist and the AARP it’s going to be a long haul.”

Expanding on his outlook, Bowles said there’s a one-third chance a deal will be reached to avoid the cliff; a one-third chance that the fiscal cliff will go into effect but a deal will happen very soon afterward; and a one-third chance that the cliff will happen, with no deal in sight.

“They say that you’ve got to have a crisis to get anything done in this town,” Bowles said, “and we’ve got one.”

Bowles said stakeholders, unwilling to make compromises on the issues closest to them, are “all like my mama . . . She’s 92 years old. She says to me, ‘You’re doing all the right things, you’re a fiscal conservative, you’re putting the nation’s fiscal house in order, your daddy would be proud of you. But don’t mess with my Medicare.’ ”

Both Bowles and Simpson emphasized that a deal is possible but will take political courage. They singled out Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma as having had the courage to put their careers on the line in favoring a compromise that would benefit the country.

“Dick Durbin has the guts of a government mule,” Simpson said, adding that “he’s going to get punished” by hardline Democrats.

But Simpson and Bowles also observed that the November election has changed the dynamic, and people have made it clear they want a solution.

“The voters are ahead of the politicians,” Bowles said. “They’re desperate for somebody to tell them the truth.”